


From the first tattoo.

by KiraDillinger



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, F/F, One Shot, Romance, adorable nerd with a bike Peridot, cool tattoo maker Lapis, fluff?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-02
Updated: 2017-06-02
Packaged: 2018-11-08 03:58:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11073606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KiraDillinger/pseuds/KiraDillinger
Summary: "At the same time, Peridot, driving along the highway at the most acceptable speed, tries to get rid of the beautiful image of the girl she met. She came to the first random tattoo parlor, the hell why there wasn't some average middle-aged master, but a magnificent slender and tall girl, with blue hair, blue eyes, and (Peridot reduces speed to accidentally not crash into anyone) beautiful tattoos-sleeves."





	From the first tattoo.

**Author's Note:**

> This is not the idea I wanted to write, but this one just ate my brain.  
> Feel free to mark my mistakes, English is not my first language, and it was a little complicated to translate.  
> Hope you'll enjoy!

During the years of her work, Lapis has seen quite a lot, and the appearance of a short blonde which looks around with frightened eyes Lapis takes calmly. The girl nervously fixes her glasses every few seconds, biting her lip and tapping her boot on the floor. Lapis knows this type of client perfectly well, she doesn't even have to ask why they came.

But because of courtesy and professional ethics, of course, it is _necessary_.

"Can I help you?" Lapis smiles, and the girl jumps up from surprise, although Lapis thinks that not to notice her was quite difficult. The girl has piercing green eyes and a scattering of freckles on her nose and cheeks, she is shorter than Lapis, and even a shaven temple and cool stylish clothes don't help to hide the fact that she, most likely, isn’t very open and able to communicate with strangers in a relaxed way.

 _"A nerd who once decided to become a biker"_ Lapis thinks, and can't hold back a little laugh.

The girl frowns, and her glasses move slightly from the bridge of the nose.

"I wanted to clarify about the tattoo... Do you make them?.."

Lapis raises her eyes to the ceiling, stares at the walls, hung with photographs with sketches and ready-made works, turns to the working table with the equipment and, finally, looks at the girl again.

"Well, the sign says "Tattoo parlor," but I _don't even know..._ "

The girl purses her lips and looks away. Hands in leather fingerless gloves nervously fingering keys, whether from the car, or from the real bike. Lapis, who knows how to notice the small details, notes that gloves are somehow larger than necessary.

_"It's just impossible to find the right size for such small palms..."_

"Let me guess," Lapis sighs, crossing her arms across her chest. "You want to look cooler, so you want a tattoo, but you're afraid, because it hurts?"

The girl freezes, stop ringing with keys. In the green eyes a hellish mixture of anger, doom and universal hopelessness is stagnating. Lapis understands that she was wrong, but she still has many variants.

“Or…”

"It's a bet," the girl breathes out, covering her eyes. “I won’t go into details, but either a tattoo of my choice, or I'll have to do something much worse. It's better to have a small beautiful tattoo than, for example, to run along the street just in a bow tie.”

Lapis bursts out laughing, imagining this. Yes, tattoos "for bet" were also frequent in her practice. Someone makes them to prove themselves they are cool and impossible to take on weakly, someone thus proves to themselves that they could endure pain, and so on, and so forth. Lapis always was a little frustrating about it. Tattoos are something _special_ for her, not just a drawing on the body but special symbols designed to remind of something, to be with meaning and value. Lapis never remembers those who comes just to make a stupid hieroglyph. Another thing, those clients who approach this business with all responsibility and understanding that this is for a lifetime. But there are not very much of them.

"Do your parents know?" Lapis asks, without even having time to think it over well, or at least make this question polite.

The girl looks at her as if she is ready to kill.

"I'm twenty-three, _thank you very much._ "

“Oh. Well, then we can discuss this, but today I'm busy with other clients. How about... The day after tomorrow. Just think about what and where you want. You can send me a variant so that I know roughly what to work with. What’s your name?”

“Peridot.”

Lapis throws up her eyebrows, but decides to keep silent. " _Wow, what a coincidence."_

Pulling out one piece of paper from the table, Lapis gives it to the girl. The girl nods, pausing to look at Lapis, takes the card, says "Thanks", and, amusingly stumbling on the doorstep, goes out. From the street Lapis can hear the roar of the engine.

"So, she really has a bike..." Lapis mutters, sitting down on a chair. The next client to tattoo correction should come up just about.

At the same time, Peridot, racing along the highway at the most acceptable speed, tries to get rid of the beautiful image of the girl she met. She came to the first random tattoo parlor, _the hell why_ there wasn't some average middle-aged master, but a magnificent slender and tall girl, with blue hair, blue eyes, and (Peridot reduces speed to accidentally not crash into anyone) beautiful tattoos-sleeves. Perfectly drawn chains wrappes around each arm, obviously clinging somewhere on the back, but under the clothes, of course, this isn’t visible. Peridot swallows and shakes her head. There must be at least some dress code in their office, wearing a barely covered belly shirt without sleeves and tight jeans _should be illegal_. On the other hand, if it's her personal office, she can set her own rules...

As soon as Peridot parks next to the house, her the phone rings, annoying even on vibration. Sighing, she decides to answer.

"No, I haven't done anything yet, we agreed on the day after tomorrow, I didn't change my mind, and _you're still an asshole_ , Amethyst."

On the other side of the phone laughter is heard.

“Okay, Peri, I’ll wait for your photos!”

Peridot responds with barking bad words and hides the phone in her pocket. Having a bet with Amethyst was risky and stupid, but if Peridot starts a bet, she goes to the end, no matter what. And to make a tattoo is not really as bad as it seemed. Amethyst herself has about four of them, and it looks very beautiful. It remains only for Peridot to choose something not trivial, so as not to regret in a week.

At home Peridot throws the keys on the shelf, throws off the heavy boots and leather jacket, and falls on the bed next to the laptop, hoping to find something interesting without spending much time. Something original? In memory of something? It wasn’t that many important and special events or people in her life. All that she had was her studies, the endless workload in school, so as not to feel the burning emptiness from her own insignificance. She seemed humiliating and sucky not to have other virtues except the mind. But after school, on the first course of the university she faced Amethyst and her company, who somehow saw in the skinny and cowardly nerd the potential of a cool and loyal friend. They literally sheltered her, helped to change the style of clothes and even helped to find a job, the salary from which in a year was enough for a bike, from which Peridot was delighted every second at the wheel.

"Well, the guys from the Astronomy Club are the best that happened to me in my whole life..." Peridot thinks with a sigh, and then she _realizes_.

The required sketch, or at least its likeness, is ready in an hour. Satisfied with the result, Peridot hurries to send it, and taking out a card from her pocket, hangs for a couple of seconds, re-reading the name written on it. _"What a coincidence,"_ she thinks, clicking on "add contact in WhatsApp" and sending the picture. Lapis responds almost instantly, forcing Peridot to flinch from the suddenly tinkling phone.

 **Lapis Lazuli:** "I am surprised. Usually everyone chooses something more trivial for "tattoo because of the bet", such as a heart on the butt. I like it."

 **Peridot:** "I'm not so stupid as to stick a heart on my butt for the rest of my life. And by the way, is that your real name? Just curious."

 **Lapis Lazuli:** "Real. It's funny that we both have gem names."

 **Peridot:** "I believe that everyone with gem name are good."

 **Peridot:** "Never mind. Btw, when should I come?"

 **Lapis Lazuli:** "The day after tomorrow, come up at five. And be sure that you ready, I don't want another client, who will jerk and yell, that they changed a mind."

 **Peridot:** "This definitely won’t happen. But, still I'll ask ... Does it really hurt?"

 **Lapis Lazuli:** "It's different for everyone. We'll check. If it hurts, we can inject anesthetic, but as a rule, it is more difficult to work because of it. Btw, don't take alcohol tomorrow. And preferably don't stress, it's easier to draw when a person is in a good mood."

 **Peridot:** "My whole life is one continuous stress, so it'll be difficult. But I'll try. See you the day after tomorrow."

Peridot throws the phone on the pillow and leans back against the wall. The image of Lapis still stands before her eyes.

_"Maybe I can invite her to drink coffee... But, if I suddenly burst into tears because of a little pain in the process, it will be better for me to move to another country or to another planet."_

Lapis, looking at the sketch on her phone screen, for some reason knows that she'll remember _exactly this client_ for a long time.

At the appointed hour, Peridot parks a bike next to the parlor, regrets that she was forbidden to drink, and uncertainly, but as calmly as possible passes into the room. Lapis rises her eyes to her, smiles and gestures to sit down, handing to Peridot an album sheet.

"I have slightly embellished your sketch, it seems to me that now it looks much cooler."

Scattering of planets, unusual for the solar system, moons, stars and comets are perfectly combined on a sheet, and Peridot can’t contain an admiring sigh. That's what the master means. No system in the drawing, only continuous chaos, but a wonderful and suitable for Peridot, whose life is quite similar to all this.

"Do you like it?"

"Very much," Peridot breathes out, no longer thinking that the idea of having a tattoo is bad. "It looks great."

"It will look even better on the skin. But I forgot to ask... Where do you want it?"

For the next couple of seconds Lapis observes how Peridot's face changes from a deathly white to an embarrassed-red color. Peridot squeezes the sheet in her hands.

"From shoulder to shoulder, on the chest..." She mumbles, wondering how Lapis hasn't laughed in her face yet. But Lapis is calm, and looks as if she does tattoos on chests every day. And she probably does.

"Oh, believe me, I did tattoos _much lower_ than a chest, and there's nothing wrong with that."

Peridot nervously fixes her glasses and sighs doomedly.

"Does it make sense, by the way? Or did you just decide it would be beautiful?" Lapis decides to ask, pulling on the sterile gloves. "It would be easier for me if I know the meaning. More precisely, not easier, just nicer to work with."

Peridot looks at the picture again and smiles, and because of that smile Lapis nearly drops the tool out of her fingers.

_“Wow.”_

“I was in the Astronomy Club at the university. I have always been interested in cosmos, planets, stars. But the meaning isn't even in this. People from this club have helped me a lot in my life, and I want to remember this. And well, I don't have a normal chest, so at least there will be cosmos on it.”

Lapis laughs, and Peridot doesn't feel offended, this statement seems to her amusing too. Wiping away the tears of laughter, Lapis enthusiastically raises the tattoo machine.

“Okay, undress.”

Peridot loosens her tie and unbuttons a shirt.

"And why don't girls say this to me in my everyday life..."

Lapis remembers this phrase _for a long time._

Everything ends in three hours, although Peridot is sure that at least ten have passed. With clenched teeth, she bravely endured all without anesthetic, because everything wasn't so terrible to part with another amount of money, and Lapis was saying encouraging things with a cute voice (and to listen to this voice Peridot doesn't mind suffering for another hour).

Evaluating her creation, Lapis stretches her lips in a satisfied smile.

"I haven't done something interesting for a long time. My soul is happy now."

"Nice..." Peridot sighs wearily, looking in the mirror and examining the picture on the reddened skin. It looks great, but healing will be long enough (and painful). Lapis, meanwhile, without warning touches her skin with the cold fingers, covered with healing ointment, and Peridot twitches, almost dropping the mirror.

"Calm down," Lapis asks quietly, continuing to spread the ointment below Peridot's collarbone.

Peridot closes her eyes and counts the planets in her head from Mercury to Pluto. This method of calming the nerves has always worked well, but to calm down sitting with a bare torso in front of a beautiful girl which is touching you is quite difficult. But Peridot makes every effort.

After a few insanely long minutes, Lapis applies a polyethylene film to the tattoo, bandages it and slaps Peridot wearily on the shoulder.

"It's ready. You did well, take the candy from the table."

Peridot grimaces, buttoning her black shirt and tying back an acid-green tie. The skin still hurts, and Peridot shivers from the prospect of sleeping on her back for the next couple of weeks.

"I don't like sweets."

Lapis shrugs, folding and removing tools. Even if today she is in a ordinary T-shirt, the chains on her hands attract Peridot's attention, disappointing her every time, when her eyes stumble upon the fabric hiding the remaining drawing.

Peridot believes that this is just ordinary curiosity, but, of course, this is a lie.

_She wants to run her fingers from the palm, where the chain began, to the Lapis’ very back, and then to other palm, twisting their fingers._

Peridot wants to jump out into the nearest window because of stupid thoughts.

“And what do your tattoos mean?” she croaks hoarsely, rising and slightly staggering. To sit for three and a half hours in place, her legs became numb and refuses to walk.

Lapis looks at her hands, pretending that she sees the tattoos for the first time. Seeing a sad spark in Lapis' eyes, Peridot understands that there is much more meaning in them than she thinks.

“The fact that it's not easy to get rid of the past. You can run, hide, try to forget it, but it will find you and drag you to the very depths of despair and hatred.”

Peridot licks her parched lips, having no idea how to respond to such an answer. Lapis, it seems, realizes that she had said too much, and immediately puts on her face a smile, worthy of the award "the most fake smile of the year."

"I can give a speech about "you should let the past go" and about other fluffy shit, but I think we both know that this doesn't work and everything is much worse. Your working day is over, right? It's almost nine.”

Throwing a quick glance at the clock, Lapis nods.

"Yes, I’ll leave now, bus will come in fifteen minutes."

“Maybe I can take you home? Accidentally I have a second helmet...”

“And you accidentally want to stop somewhere to have a dinner...”

"It would be nice... Wait, what?.."

But Lapis just goes to dress, closing instruments in the lockers and turning off the lamps, leaving Peridot to smile silly with her glasses fallen to the very tip of her nose.

And only after a couple of months and one tattoo correction, after a lot of _"I just drove past and decided to drop in and ask..."_ , after an endless number of evenings on bike with full speed on a country road, Peridot realizes that the bets with Amethyst are like signs from above. Because the bet she once joined the Astronomy Club, because the bet she made a tattoo, and further _"you don't have the courage to kiss her!"_ was also received with all seriousness (Peridot had to lure Lapis to the stairs in the park and stand two steps higher).

On Lapis' back there are wings bounded by chains, and the chains passes through the waist, chest and are linked by a black large lock on the small of the back. Peridot likes to run along the chains with her fingers, closing her eyes and imagining, that someday she will be able to open the lock and release the wings. Or, at least, to weaken the chain.

Lapis likes to kiss each planet and the stars in turn, count them, and joke about the fact that the first thing she sees in the morning is the cosmos. She even offers to extend it to the shoulders and back.

"It fits perfectly with your freckles."

And Peridot for the first time in her life is glad that she has these damn freckles.

Can it be called “love at first sight”, trivial "storm of emotions" or "one lonely soul found another"? In fact, both hates it. So, they decide to call it _"Make a bet with Peridot more often, so that she falls in love with someone from the first tattoo."_

**Author's Note:**

> sorry, Gab, I used your line, but asfdajhfgs I liked it xD


End file.
